Agriculture in responsibility for our common world

The vocational training course program Agriculture in Responsibility for our common World organised within the frame of the Banat Green Deal Project GreenERDE (Education and Research in the context of the digital and ecological transformation of agriculture in the Banat Region and Baden-Württemberg - towards resource efficiency and resilience) and delivered between June 2021 and May 2022 targets the knowledge and experience transfer to the farmer community in the Banat Region, Romania and other parts of the world. Current and future challenges, such as the ecological conversion and digital transformation of agricultural production, but also social, economic and cultural aspects haven been addressed transcending prevailing patterns. The innovative and relevant knowledge originating from practice, experiments, research or development projects throughout Europe and other continents is presented in a training format for interested participants.Das im Rahmen des Banat Green Deal Projekts GreenERDE (Bildung und Forschung im Kontext der digitalen und ökologischen Transformation des Agrarbereichs im Banat und Baden-Württemberg - auf dem Weg zu Ressourceneffizienz und Resilienz) von Juni 2021 bis Mai 2022 durchgeführte Fortbildungsprogramm Landwirtschaft in Verantwortung für unsere gemeinsame Welt), zielt auf den Wissens- und Erfahrungstransfer unter Landwirten und anderen interessirten Personen in der Banat-Region, Rumänien und anderen Teilen der Welt ab. Aktuelle und zukünftige Herausforderungen, wie die ökologische Umstellung und die digitale Transformation der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion, aber auch soziale, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Aspekte wurden jenseits vorherrschender Muster adressiert. Das innovative und relevante Wissen aus Praxis, Forschungs- oder Entwicklungsprojekten in ganz Europa und anderen Kontinenten wird in einem Trainingsformat für interessierte Teilnehmer präsentiert

Economic and environmental assessment of seed and rhizome propagated Miscanthus in the UK

Growth in planted areas of Miscanthus for biomass in Europe has stagnated since 2010 due to technical challenges, economic barriers and environmental concerns. These limitations need to be overcome before biomass production from Miscanthus can expand to several million hectares. In this paper we consider the economic and environmental effects of introducing seed based hybrids as an alternative to clonal M. x giganteus (Mxg). The impact of seed based propagation and novel agronomy was compared with current Mxg cultivation and used in ten commercially relevant, field scale experiments planted between 2012 and 2014 in the UK, Germany and Ukraine. Economic and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions costs were quantified for the following production chain: propagation, establishment, harvest, transportation, storage and fuel preparation (excluding soil carbon changes). The production and utilisation efficiency of seed and rhizome propagation were compared. Results show that new hybrid seed propagation significantly reduces establishment cost to below ?900 ha-1. Calculated GHG emission costs for the seeds established via plugs, though relatively small, was higher than rhizomes because fossil fuels were assumed to heat glasshouses for raising seedling plugs (5.3 and 1.5 kg CO2 eq. C Mg (dry matter (DM))-1), respectively. Plastic mulch film reduced establishment time, improving crop economics. The breakeven yield was calculated to be 6 Mg DM ha-1 y-1, which is about half average UK yield for Mxg; with newer seeded hybrids reaching 16 Mg DM ha-1 in second year UK trials. These combined improvements will significantly increase crop profitability. The trade-offs between costs of production for the preparation of different feedstock formats show that bales are the best option for direct firing with the lowest transport costs (?0.04 Mg -1 km-1) and easy on-farm storage. However if pelleted fuel is required then chip harvesting is more economic. We show how current seed based propagation methods can increase the rate at which Miscanthus can be scaled up; ~x100 those of current rhizome propagation. These rapid ramp rates for biomass production are required to deliver a scalable and economic Miscanthus biomass fuel whose GHG emissions are ~1/20th those of natural gas per unit of heatpublishersversionPeer reviewe

Extending Miscanthus cultivation with novel germplasm at six contrasting sites

The OPTIMISC project received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No. 289159.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Environmental Influences on the Growing Season Duration and Ripening of Diverse Miscanthus Germplasm Grown in Six Countries

The development of models to predict yield potential and quality of a Miscanthus crop must consider climatic limitations and the duration of growing season. As a biomass crop, yield and quality are impacted by the timing of plant developmental transitions such as flowering and senescence. Growth models are available for the commercially grown clone Miscanthus x giganteus (Mxg), but breeding programs have been working to expand the germplasm available, including development of interspecies hybrids. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of diverse germplasm beyond the range of environments considered suitable for a Miscanthus crop to be grown. To achieve this, six field sites were planted as part of the EU OPTIMISC project in 2012 in a longitudinal gradient from West to East: Wales?Aberystwyth, Netherlands?Wageningen, Stuttgart?Germany, Ukraine?Potash, Turkey?Adana, and Russia?Moscow. Each field trial contained three replicated plots of the same 15 Miscanthus germplasm types. Through the 2014 growing season, phenotypic traits were measured to determine the timing of developmental stages key to ripening; the tradeoff between growth (yield) and quality (biomass ash and moisture content). The hottest site (Adana) showed an accelerated growing season, with emergence, flowering and senescence occurring before the other sites. However, the highest yields were produced at Potash, where emergence was delayed by frost and the growing season was shortest. Flowering triggers varied with species and only in Mxg was strongly linked to accumulated thermal time. Our results show that a prolonged growing season is not essential to achieve high yields if climatic conditions are favorable and in regions where the growing season is bordered by frost, delaying harvest can improve quality of the harvested biomasspublishersversionPeer reviewe

Progress on optimizing miscanthus biomass production for the European bioeconomy:Results of the EU FP7 project OPTIMISC

This paper describes the complete findings of the EU-funded research project OPTIMISC, which investigated methods to optimize the production and use of miscanthus biomass. Miscanthus bioenergy and bioproduct chains were investigated by trialing 15 diverse germplasm types in a range of climatic and soil environments across central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, and China. The abiotic stress tolerances of a wider panel of 100 germplasm types to drought, salinity, and low temperatures were measured in the laboratory and a field trial in Belgium. A small selection of germplasm types was evaluated for performance in grasslands on marginal sites in Germany and the UK. The growth traits underlying biomass yield and quality were measured to improve regional estimates of feedstock availability. Several potential high-value bioproducts were identified. The combined results provide recommendations to policymakers, growers and industry. The major technical advances in miscanthus production achieved by OPTIMISC include: (1) demonstration that novel hybrids can out-yield the standard commercially grown genotype Miscanthus x giganteus; (2) characterization of the interactions of physiological growth responses with environmental variation within and between sites; (3) quantification of biomass-quality-relevant traits; (4) abiotic stress tolerances of miscanthus genotypes; (5) selections suitable for production on marginal land; (6) field establishment methods for seeds using plugs; (7) evaluation of harvesting methods; and (8) quantification of energy used in densification (pellet) technologies with a range of hybrids with differences in stem wall properties. End-user needs were addressed by demonstrating the potential of optimizing miscanthus biomass composition for the production of ethanol and biogas as well as for combustion. The costs and life-cycle assessment of seven miscanthusbased value chains, including small- and large-scale heat and power, ethanol, biogas, and insulation material production, revealed GHG-emission- and fossil-energy-saving potentials of up to 30.6 t CO2eqC ha(-1) y(-1) and 429 GJ ha(-1)y(-1), respectively. Transport distance was identified as an important cost factor. Negative carbon mitigation costs of-78 epsilon t(-1) CO2eq C were recorded for local biomass use. The OPTIMISC results demonstrate the potential of miscanthus as a crop for marginal sites and provide information and technologies for the commercial implementation of miscanthus-based value chains

A reference human induced pluripotent stem cell line for large-scale collaborative studies

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines are a powerful tool for studying development and disease, but the considerable phenotypic variation between lines makes it challenging to replicate key findings and integrate data across research groups. To address this issue, we sub-cloned candidate human iPSC lines and deeply characterized their genetic properties using whole genome sequencing, their genomic stability upon CRISPR-Cas9-based gene editing, and their phenotypic properties including differentiation to commonly used cell types. These studies identified KOLF2.1J as an all-around well-performing iPSC line. We then shared KOLF2.1J with groups around the world who tested its performance in head-to-head comparisons with their own preferred iPSC lines across a diverse range of differentiation protocols and functional assays. On the strength of these findings, we have made KOLF2.1J and its gene-edited derivative clones readily accessible to promote the standardization required for large-scale collaborative science in the stem cell field

Mycotoxin Standards along Cereals Value Chain in Russia and their impact on EU-Russia trade

Global trade liberalization increased the flows of agricultural products also from transition countries. Particularly Russian Federation has become one of the world leading exporters of wheat, which however, due to major deficits in the national food safety regulations, do not always meet the stringent food safety standards of the developed countries. The quantitative estimation of trade impact of food standards on exports from transition countries, conducted through econometric analysis during the first phase of the current research, resulted in a statistically highly significant 4,33% decrease in value of wheat exports, in case of 1% stricter standards. The second phase of the study presents the investigation of Russian national food safety regulations along cereal value chain, and aspires to evaluate the possible compliance of Russian norms with EU standards, aiming to increase the exports of Russian wheat to EU countries